Superyacht designer Ron Holland Pens Memoir
“Given that his single-masted creation M5 is too tall to pass beneath [Vancouver’s] Lions Gate Bridge, it’s no wonder that superyacht designer [Auckland-born] Ron Holland had trouble holding a ‘personal memoir’ to 400 pages and 200 photographs,” Vancouver Sun journalist Malcolm Parry writes.
“Still, 3000 copies of his CAD$45 All The Oceans: Designing by the Seat of My Pants should leave a China printing plant soon and be launched here on 22 March,” Parry writes.
“The book follows [Holland’s] 1989 volume, Splendour Under Sail: The New Generation of Superyachts. Such vessels keep getting bigger, Holland said, with some now stretching to 122m overall compared to M5’s 88.4. Somewhat smaller is a 185-footer (56.4m) Holland designed for Italy’s Perini Navi shipyard, which Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch bought and named Rosehearty for his parents’ Aberdeenshire birthplace.
“Murdoch wrote a foreword for All The Oceans. But when Holland asked for tips on promoting the book, which he hopes ‘will get beyond the boat guys,’ Murdoch reportedly replied: ‘I haven’t got a clue.’
“Holland still sails his own Coronado 25 Kia Aura locally, and was second in class when he competed with the King of Spain and others in last summer’s International Six Metre Class Word Championships [in Canada]. Next book? ‘I’m thinking of something for kids.’”
Holland, who was born in 1947, is based in Vancouver.
Original article by Malcolm Parry, The Vancouver Sun, January 12, 2018.
Photo by Malcolm Parry.
